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The Process of Developing Film

If you give the film you exposed to the processor for processing it will contain the images that were not visible from the exposures you took. These images have to be amplified and stabilized to produce a color negative which is then printed and then viewed using reflected light.

Before we discuss the process of development of the color negative film it is better to take a take a step back and work on the negative in black-and-white. If you had black-and-white film with your camera the same process of latent-image formation could have taken place, but the silver-halide grains would be attracted to all wavelengths of visible light , rather than just to blue, red, or green light. In black-and-white film the silver-halide grains have been coated with just two or one layer and the process of development is simpler to comprehend. What happens is:

In the beginning of the process the film, it is put in the developing agent, which is actually an reducing agent. If it is allowed that the reducing agent is present, it will transform all silver ions to silver. For grains with latent-image sites will grow faster. When the right control is maintained of temperatures, time, and agitation, grains that have latent images will turn into pure silver. The grains that are not exposed will continue as crystals with a silver-halide halide.

Next, you must finish the process of developing by washing the film in water or making use of the use of a “stop” bath that stops the process of developing.

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The unexposed crystals of silver-halide are removed by what is known as”fixing bath. Fixers dissolve only the silver-halide crystals and leaves the silver metal in its place.

In the last step the film is rinsed by water to get rid of all processing chemicals. It is then then dried and then each exposure is divided into negatives.

After you’re done with your work, you will are left with a negative of the scene. It’s a negative in the sense that it is the darkest (has the highest concentration of silver atoms that are opaque) in the location which received the highest light exposure. In areas that did not receive light, the image has no silver atoms , and is transparent. In order to create an image that appears natural to our eyes, the image has to be printed on another light-sensitive substrate (usually photo paper).

In this process of development magical binder gelatin was a key role. It grew to allow chemical processing agents to reach the silver-halide grains however, it remained in the correct position. The process of swelling is crucial to the movement of chemical and reactions products through the layers of the photographic film. As of now nobody has discovered an appropriate substitute for gelatin used in photographic materials.

Making Film: Color

If the film you took was one of the color negative types (that provides you with a print upon return from the photo processing) The processing chemistry differs in many ways.

The development stage involves reducing chemicals, as the silver-halide particles transform into pure silver. Oxidized developer is created in this process. The developed developer is oxidized and reacts with chemical known as couplers within each layer that forms images. The couplers react to create a color and the color of this hue varies based on the manner in which the silver-halide grains were sensitized spectrally. Different color-forming couplers are employed in the red- blue-, green- and red-sensitive layers. The latent image of the different layers is formed into an entirely different color when the film is made.

Layers that are sensitive to red create a cyan-colored dye.

The layers that are green-sensitive form a magenta dye.

Blue-sensitive layers are formed by yellow dye.

The process of development can be stopped through washing or the use of a stop bath. The unexposed silver-halide particles are removed with a fixing solution. The silver which was created during the initial process is removed using bleaching chemicals.

Negative images are cleaned to get rid of all of the chemicals or reaction product as they can. Film strips are dried.

The resulting color negatives appear extremely odd. For one, unlike a typical black and white negative, this one is not made of silver. Additionally, as an opposite color (negative) and negative, they are colored with a peculiar orange-yellow tint. They are a color-negative in that the higher the exposure to red is experienced, the more the formation of cyan dye. Cyan is a mixture of green and blue (or white and red). The overall orange hue is due to masking dyes which help eliminate imperfections in the process of reproduction of colors. The image layers with green sensitivities include magenta dye. the blue-sensitive image layers are infused with yellow dye.

The colors that are formed by the positive film’s color are inspired by the subtractive color system. The subtractive system employs just one color (cyan magenta, yellow or cyan) to determine every primary color. The additive system employs the combination of green, red, and blue to create an color. Television can be described as an additive device. It makes use of tiny dots of green, red and blue phosphor to recreate the colors. In a photo, the colors are layered over one another, and an subtractive system for color reproduction is needed.

The red color controls the color of Cyan dye
The green color can be controlled through Magenta dye
Blue dyes are managed by Yellow dye



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